Annales Scientia Politica

10

Authors: Róbert Király

This work analyzes a conflict between Spain and its autonomous region of Catalonia; we appeal to context of phenomenon of identitary borders and emotional bordering, with using a border studies methodology. The article characterizes signs and symbols - both tangible and intangible - on the basis of which the Catalans identify themselves as a nation with ambitions to have their own state or to federalize the Kingdom of Spain. Work also describes historical and current context of struggle between Madrid and Barcelona (economical, political, cultural). In the last part we accentuate four scenarios of potential evolution of relations between Spain and Catalonia.

11

Authors: Jaroslav Vencálek

Although the term “genius loci” has been known and used since ancient civilizations, it was considered almost unimportant in a technically industrialized and competitive world. However, the pursuit of a more dignified life for the human communities has again revealed its undeniable importance as an inner cohesion force, applied in partial territorial-social structures. In an integrating world, it may be a useful tool to transform historically created hierarchical structures into more humanly functional fractal structures. This possibility is documented in the study by regional examples from Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

19

Authors: Daniel Svoboda

This article shall deal with an investigation of changes within Czech society and within its political persuasion and behaviour. It will be based on familiar theories of dividing lines or cleavages, and make use of their innovative character in the form of “post-Rokkan cleavages”, which enable a better understanding of the new dividing lines which have begun to manifest themselves pronouncedly, especially since the end of the 1960s. The article shall familiarise readers with the classic theories of cleavages as presented by Stein Rokkan and Seymour Martin Lipset, as well as with post-Rokkan concepts of cleavages as conceived by Arend Lijphart and Ronald F. Inglehart. It is precisely these concepts that the article shall apply to Czech society since 2013. The year 2013 has been chosen as a milestone when Czech society began to divide, in the author's view primarily as a consequence of three key events. According to the author, these events are the direct election of the President of the Czech Republic in 2013, the crisis in Ukraine, emerging from the end of the 2013 onwards, and since approximately April 2015 the current European migrant crisis. Within the context of these three events, the author shall analyse the Czech political and social milieu, linking to the concept of post-Rokkan conflict lines. The entire text is set upon a background of an examination of populism within Czech society, which in the opinion of the author is present in both of the ideological groups emerging as a consequence of the new cleavages that have been generated by the aforementioned three events.